Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1866 - 5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE

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### 5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE

The <PRE> element represents a character cell block of text and is suitable for text that has been formatted for a monospaced font.

The <PRE> tag may be used with the optional WIDTH attribute. The WIDTH attribute specifies the maximum number of characters for a line and allows the HTML user agent to select a suitable font and indentation.

Within preformatted text:

- Line breaks within the text are rendered as a move to the beginning of the next line.

  NOTE - References to the "beginning of a new line" do not imply that the renderer is forbidden from using a constant left indent for rendering preformatted text. The left indent may be constrained by the width required.

- Anchor elements and phrase markup may be used.

  NOTE - Constraints on the processing of <PRE> content may limit or prevent the ability of the HTML user agent to faithfully render phrase markup.

- Elements that define paragraph formatting (headings, address, etc.) must not be used.

  NOTE - Some historical documents contain <P> tags in <PRE> elements. User agents are encouraged to treat this as a line break. A <P> tag followed by a newline character should produce only one line break, not a line break plus a blank line.

- The horizontal tab character (code position 9 in the HTML document character set) must be interpreted as the smallest positive nonzero number of spaces which will leave the number of characters so far on the line as a multiple of 8. Documents should not contain tab characters, as they are not supported consistently.

Example of use:

        <PRE>
        Line 1.
               Line 2 is to the right of line 1.     <a href="abc">abc</a>
               Line 3 aligns with line 2.            <a href="def">def</a>
        </PRE>

5.5.2.1. Example and Listing: XMP, LISTING

Next: 5.5.2.1. Example and Listing: XMP, LISTING

Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1866 - 5.5.2. Preformatted Text: PRE